Wet Fleece

We listed our house last fall, "For Sale By Owner", it stayed for sale for over four months.
Thinking the time must not be right, we took it off the market.
Well, time passed and we decided to list it again, this time with a realtor.
We put it up at the beginning of March.
The last week of April my wife and I attended the annual Worldwide Missionary Evangelism (WME) conference at our home church in Arkansas.

During the last night of the conference, Larry Jones, spoke a simple and practical message.
At the alter I prayed and simply said to God, "I'm finally at peace doing what I feel you directing me to do, but I sure could use some wet fleece here."---That was on Friday night.

Monday morning our realtor called to tell us the house had sold!
That afternoon we went looking for a place to rent. We looked at a house that a friend had open; it was nice and the offer was very gracious but we wanted to explore all of our options so we called, Pat Saterfield, our realtor who sold our house in Arkansas three years ago.
She informed us that she didn't deal with rentals but she had a client who needed to move his house and would possibly be open to a lease to own plan.
After seeing the house, it was perfect for our needs. We made some phone calls back and forth to the owner and long story short, we sign next week for the price we needed. He's taking a loss on it, but told us he'd rather take a small loss each month rather than a huge loss with it sitting there empty.

Where to go, check.
What to do, check.
Time frame that only God could set up, check.
The fleece, wet.

It would appear that God still answers prayers.

Inside Out

The Church.
It meets every week in a building.
It's encouraged to happen outside a building every week.

A few weeks ago, on the side of the road was a car in need of some jumper cables. I paused for a moment thinking like we all do, “I’ll be late for my meeting.” I texted my contact and decided to be late for the meeting, moments later the car was back on its way.

The Church happens everywhere.

I had the wonderful opportunity to speak at a church about a month ago where I gave an invitation for people to follow Christ. In the altar were people whose lives were being changed and hearts connected with God.

The Church happens everywhere.

Lately, a fantastic young man has opened his life to me and we’ve been having some great heart to heart talks. The openness and transparency he has displayed to me is quite an honor. I’ve had the opportunity to speak into his life and share some Biblical insight and help connect the dots between everyday living and biblical application.

The Church happens everywhere.

After speaking at a youth gathering, a parent came up to me afterwards and shared some struggles she and her husband have been going through in this rough economic time. She has been wrestling with some profound issues. Being able to speak life and encouragement and pray with her was one of the highlights of the evening. I could see the peace of God come into her life and her situation.

The Church happens everywhere.

My wife and I lead a small group of believers that is composed of people from several churches. When a couple in the group showed up with an important need, the group answered the call. When almost half of our group was affected with job loss, we all chipped in to make car payments, buy groceries, and do whatever we could for each other. A loving, passionate, giving community of believers.

The Church happens everywhere.

A few days ago, I received an email from a Youth Pastor in Dallas. I've never met the man and honestly have no idea how he got my contact information. In the email his heart called out for guidiance and a deep desire to connect with someone who could help him fulfill the call that God has put in his life. He is one of several I've had the awesome privilege of connecting with and getting to step into a new type of relationship with fellow members of the body.

The Church happens everywhere.


In the everyday experiences of life, if you look for it, church happens everywhere.
Many times the issue is we only see church in one location: a building; the reality is Jesus spent more time outside of the building and more time building the Church.

I encourage you to live your life with soul saving love.
Outside of the building and in the place where opportunities are everywhere.

Doors of Destiny

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Revelation 3:7-8

We see here in scripture that God is the one who opens and closes doors.

In my prayers for the last few months, I have prayed for God to open doors that need to be open and close doors that need to be closed.

To be honest, I have not trusted my emotions to be able to make a good decision when it comes to stepping into a ministry position. I've fought the urge to take the first thing that comes available. That is why I've specifically asked God to close doors that we do not need to go through.

I find it comforting that in this scripture it shows just what a loving and caring God we have. He says, "I know that you have little strength..." In the times when we are weak or not able to make clear decisions, I believe God gives us direction with His very hand by opening and closing doors.

Starting with the last post and over the next few post I'll take you through the process of how we have come to find out what God is doing in our lives and how walking through this door of destiny has given me clear and insightful purpose.

I believe that within every human being, there are at least three God-given desires…

1. The desire to worship something bigger than you are.
2. The desire to help other people.
3. The desire to belong to something bigger than you are.

These deep longings inside of us is what begs for attention in the cry to know our destiny.
But before we can proceed through the door God opens for us, we must look at some key components on which to hang these Biblical truths. Here's the first one, I'll share another in the next post.

Biblical Truth: Destination is a place. Destiny is a process.

With that in mind, next post I'll talk about the actual door. Think of an actual door and ponder this question in the meantime; what is the most important feature of a door?

Listen Up

I went to church today.
A statement was made.
It has been bothering me all day.

The well-intended minister was speaking in regards to us as children of God and hearing God's purpose for our lives.

The statement(paraphrased): "You should be concerned with knowing what God is saying to you rather than feeling inadequate to hear Him."

The example: If your child is playing in the street, and a car is coming, are you going to quietly say, "John, please get out of the street" hoping he hears you? Or are you going to do everything you can to get his attention? Of course you'd be jumping and yelling.."Get out of the road!" That's how God is.

I see what he was trying to portray. I personally believe there's more under the surface that we all at one time or another have questioned when trying to listen to God.

As a parent, I want my children to hear my voice and respond instantly. This really stuck out to me this morning because this was a real life situation that happened to me when my son was two. We were outside in the front yard and before I knew it...he took off down the driveway headed towards the street. I instantly stood up and yelled, "Son, stop!" He did. A two year old. My child instantly heard and responded. Why? He knows my voice.
Now don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that my children instantly do this every time. If you're a parent then you know the joys of telling your children to do something and they look at you like your Vanilla Ice trying to explain the difference between his beat on "Ice Ice Baby" and David Bowie's beat "Under Pressure."

I distinctly remember one time being in a church with 2000 other people listening to a message with my wife, Lora. Then I heard a sneeze. I leaned over to Lora and said, "that sounds like my dad." Unknown to us, he was in the building, too. Turned out, it was him sneezing. How did I recognize him out of a room of 2000 people? I spent time with him. A lot of time.


Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27)
Again, going back to personal experience, I have found that the times in my life where I have asked God to talk to me, give me direction and it seems that He's not talking.....the truth is He was talking, I just forgot what He sounded like. I hadn't spent time with Him like I once did.

If you're like me and have struggled lately to hear from God, the good news is He does speak and the key to hearing Him...is spending time with Him. I assure you when you do that you'll hear His heartbeat and know what He wants for you. And He didn't have to jump around and yell at you.